ADVANTUM snaps up high performing young talent

Members of the ADVANTUM team (from left): Kemar Galloway, Chanelle Pearson, Shanice Bryan, Kimberly Soares, and Kevaughn Williams share a pose with COO of ADVANTUM and deputy group CEO of Shipping Association of Jamaica, Andrea McGibbon.

ADVANTUM, registered as Port Computer Services Ltd, has embarked on an initiative to provide meaningful work experience for young people leaving tertiary institutions and to safeguard its business continuity.

Last summer, the company approached Jamaica's two largest universities for the resumes of their high-performing students. Following a competitive interview and selection process, five rookies, sporting impressive academic records, were offered jobs as junior software developers. Kimberly Soares and Shanice Bryan graduated at the top of the computer science cohort from the University of the West Indies. Likewise, Chanelle Pearson was a top performer from the computer science programme at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica. To complete the batch, Kemar Galloway and Kevaughn Williams, also high-performing graduates from UTech, were engaged.

Shanice Bryan says the opportunity to work at ADVANTUM has been wonderful.

"ADVANTUM has been an ideal platform for the progression of my professional career. I have acquired versatility through exposure to new programming principles and paradigms, thereby, gaining confidence in my ability to provide appropriate and productive solutions for problems,'' she said.

Kemar Galloway shares the same sentiments.

"The opportunity to work at ADVANTUM has improved my professional life,'' he said. "I have gotten the opportunity to work on multiple, real-world applications, with a team filled with smart, driven and optimistic individuals.''

The Junior Devs initiative has proven to be a lucrative investment, having already churned out two mobile apps and provided critical manpower to significantly advance the rewrite of ADVANTUM's flagship software applications built to support logistical distribution operations.

"I am happy to have made significant contributions to the company so far, which have included implementing several critical aspects of the ADVANTUM Port Manager web application. This involves core functionalities that our customers rely on,'' Galloway said.

As for Bryan, she said she hopes to get more first-hand experiences to observe the intricacy of port operations while working at ADVANTUM.

"This will allow me to gain knowledge and insight applicable to my job function. An ambition of mine is to use the logistics of the port terminal as a proof of concept for developing a self-learning artificial intelligent agent,'' the young developer said.

Galloway said while his personal goal is to become a technical lead, his goal for ADVATNUM is for the team to continue to expand their projects that challenge existing processes, leading to innovations and contributions to the software industry.

With the notable rise of the on-demand economy, faster computer processing speeds and the continued growth of mobile applications as the new normal for procuring goods and services, ADVANTUM sees these young talents as the 'new blood' critical to its survival and growth in 2018 and beyond.

ADVANTUM is a leading provider of information technology infrastructure and systems support to the local logistics community and the wider Caribbean maritime industry. The company holds the distinction of being the pioneer in the computerisation of the Port of Kingston.